Q 01/05

Which Swedish statistician called the washing machine the greatest invention of the Industrial Revolution?

A) Hans Rosling

B) Svante Arrhenius

C) Anders Celsius

D) Gunnar Myrdal

Answer · why

A) Hans Rosling

Hans Rosling, in his 2010 TED talk 'The magic washing machine', argued that freeing women from hand-washing outweighed every other invention of the In...

Q 02/05

In which country was Jacob Christian Schäffer's washing machine design published in 1767?

A) England

B) Netherlands

C) France

D) Germany

Answer · why

D) Germany

Jacob Christian Schäffer, a Lutheran clergyman and naturalist in Regensburg, Germany, published his washing-machine design there in 1767.

Q 03/05

Who received a British patent for a rotating drum washer in 1782?

A) Richard Arkwright

B) James Watt

C) Edward Beetham

D) Henry Sidgier

Answer · why

D) Henry Sidgier

Henry Sidgier's 1782 British patent described a rotating drum of wooden rods turned by a handle; in the 1790s Edward Beetham sold numerous 'patent was...

Q 04/05

Who was granted the first US patent titled Clothes Washing, in 1797?

A) Nathaniel Briggs

B) Oliver Evans

C) Jacob Perkins

D) Eli Whitney

Answer · why

A) Nathaniel Briggs

Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire was granted the patent in 1797, seven years after the first US Patent Act of 1790; no description of his machine sur...

Q 05/05

Which Canadian patented a Clothes Washer With Wringer Rolls in 1843?

A) Sandford Fleming

B) John E. Turnbull

C) Thomas Ahearn

D) Alexander Graham Bell

Answer · why

B) John E. Turnbull

John E. Turnbull of Saint John, New Brunswick, patented the 'Clothes Washer With Wringer Rolls' in 1843, pairing a washing tub with rollers that squee...